Putting the public back into public transport

The 2018-19 State Budget will invest in South Australia’s public transport network to deliver better services for South Australians, making it more customer focused, efficient and accessible.

Key projects include:

Gawler Line Electrification Project ($615 million)

North Terrace tram right hand turn ($37 million)

O-Bahn Park ‘n’ Rides ($33.5 million)

City South tramline renewal and stop upgrade ($11.7 million)

Establishing the South Australian Public Transport Authority (SAPTA) ($2.5 million)

Mobile phone charging stations ($100,000)

“The Marshall Liberal Government has a strong plan to improve the public transport network and deliver a better service for South Australians,” Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government Stephan Knoll said.

“We are allocating $2.5 million to establish SAPTA which will inform the development of a comprehensive public transport strategy that is customer focused, more reliable, accessible and better suits the needs of South Australians.

“The Marshall Government also moved quickly to secure $220 million in Commonwealth Government funding to deliver the Gawler Electrification Project.

“Commonwealth funding for this project was not secured by Labor and is another example of the new Marshall Government cleaning up the mess that Labor left behind.

“By electrifying the entire Gawler line, the State Government is delivering a faster, safer and better service for the tens of thousands of South Australians who use this service every day.

“We will also be investing $18.5 million to expand Park ‘n’ Rides along the O’Bahn network, with a priority to extend the Golden Grove and Paradise Park ‘n’ Rides to encourage more South Australians to use public transport.”

The funding builds on the additional $15.0 million provided previously to extend Park ‘n’ Rides along the O’Bahn network.

To the extent resources allow, car parks at other sites, Klemzig and Tea Tree Plaza, will be delivered as part of this package of works.

“The local communities in these areas wanted better parking facilities to improve access to public transport services and the Marshall Government is delivering on our election commitments to do just that.”

In order to meet the $715 million savings task by 2021-22 left by the former Labor government and to deliver the new State Government’s priorities, the 2018-19 State Budget includes $1.1 million in savings in 2018-19, increasing to $14.8 million perannum (indexed) from 2019-20 through a review of public transport services.

As a consequence, some bus routes with low patronage will be discontinued.

This measure will seek to improve the efficiency of the public transport network through reviewing duplicated or low patronised services across the bus and rail network, identifying opportunities to optimise timetables and leveraging bus contractors’ expertise to identify customer improvements to maximise public transport outcomes for the community.